Helpful
by MissAlice1990
Summary: Sometimes people can be a little too helpful. Short one shot.


**AN: So today we were preparing for my daughters birthday party (she turns 3 tomorrow! What?!) and my husband just kept... getting in my way? He was being helpful, oh so helpful, but in that.. oblivious to his surroundings sort of way I guess... anyways, that was my inspiration...**

I had been working on translating some text from our most recent trip through the gate for a few days, when Jack stepped through my door to hassle me about working too hard.

"Daniel, you need a break."

"This is really important Jack." I sighed. I hated being interrupted and now I had to start from the beginning of the previous line to find my place.

"Is there anything in there about space guns?"

"I'll never know if you keep interrupting me." I muttered under my breath.

"What was that?"

I sighed. "I don't know Jack. Maybe."

"Well, I'm sure it can wait. Come on! Team breakfast in the commissary."

"Fine." I snapped, setting my notebook face down to hold my place before following Jack out of the room.

After breakfast Sam walked with me back to my lab discussing the frequency of which Jack interrupted us. Sam really was too easy on him.

"I know it can be annoying, Daniel. But he means well."

"Oh come on Sam. You can't tell me you don't feel like you could get twice as much work done if he wasn't interrupting you every few hours."

"Maybe, Daniel. But I also know I eat far more regularly thanks to him."

"Yeah, I guess. But still, sometimes I really wish he would just-" I froze. We had just entered my lab and suddenly everything was different.

"Daniel?" I heard Sam ask as my stomach sunk in dread.

"Someone cleaned my lab." I felt the color drain from my face.

"Okay. Well, that was nice of them?" I could see the confusion on Sam's face. She didn't understand why I looked so upset.

"I-it's just that… well, I was working on translating some text from PJ9-835 when Jack drug me to breakfast."

"Okay… I don't-oh." Sam finally realized why I was upset. "Oh no."

I rushed to my table and began looking through the now neatly stacked piles of notes and photographs. Whoever cleaned in here while I was away had stacked my research notes neatly in a pile, but completely out of order. I groaned.

"Daniel?" Sam inquired, clearly asking how it looked.

"Everything is out of order! God this is going to take me hours to sort out."

"Can I help?" She sounded reluctant, likely having a task she needed to return to in her own lab.

"Honestly, Sam, I'm not even sure where to start. This is a mess. I basically have to go through and find the text I've already translated, then figure out what order they belonged in… I'll also have to cross reference with the order on my camera's memory card."

"Okay. I could help with that, right?" She sounded a little more sure of herself as she finally stepped through the door of his lab. "Where is the memory card?"

I gestured distractedly at my backpack while I began sorting through the pages and separating out the ones with notes written in. "It's still in the camera."

The two of us sat there for an hour going through pages and comparing the images to the ones on the screen, looking for the proper order. It was tedious, but Sam was helping to make the work go by much quicker.

"Hi Dr. Jackson, Major Carter." They both looked up from where they sat to see Sergeant Henry Wells standing in the doorway. Henry spent most of his time following Siler around, helping him with odds and ends, but he was really interested in my work and stopped by the lab frequently in his free time to inquire about my research.

"Hey Henry." I wasn't excited about the interruption, but I'm not an ass, so I gave him a friendly smile which he took as an invitation to enter the room.

"I stopped by this morning, but you weren't here. I hope you don't mind, I did a little tidying up."

"That was you?" I asked, my mouth feeling dry. I wanted to yell at him, but that wasn't really in my nature. And it wasn't his fault, really. He thought he was helping.

"Yeah!" He smiled eagerly. "I know you're always so busy, and I thought maybe it would be nice to have a little help. My mom always taught me that having things tidy and organized can lower your stress level."

I stared at him, mouth open, likely resembling the fish on the wall of Jack's favorite bar. "I, uh…" I glanced at Sam nervously, wondering how to beat say thank you but please don't do it again. "I appreciate the help Henry…" I hesitated, not sure where I was going with the sentence when Sam finished my train of thought.

"You know, Sergeant, the labs have a lot of… delicate… items in them. It might be best not to do clean without the owner of the lab in the future."

"Ma'am?" He looked worried, and she smiled at him reassuringly. I watched his face relax while I wondered why she seemed to have that effect on so many men on base. Sam could probably get away with murder.

"It's just better to be cautious with these things is all, Sergeant. I realize Daniels stuff may look pretty harmless considering what you might find in my own lab on any given day." She gestured at the room. "But a lot of the items Daniel translates have turned out to be pretty dangerous once he figured out the translation… like, that orb we brought home a few years back."

"Orb, ma'am?"

"You know, the one that pinned Colonel O'Neill to the gate room wall."

Henry paled as he realized what she was talking about. "Oh. I see what you mean."

I smiled. Sam wasn't lying, really, but we both knew there wasn't anything that dangerous in my lab. "Really Henry, I appreciate your help. But it would be… safer… if you made sure I was in the room before you start moving stuff around.

"Of… of course Dr. Jackson! I'm sorry I didn't think of it myself. Well.. have a good rest of your day!" He retreated looking nervous.

"Thank you." I said to Sam after he left.

"For what?" She asked innocently, grinning back at me.

I laughed and swatted her with the back of my hand before we continued reorganizing my notes.


End file.
